Contract Awarded For Lehigh Tunnel

The award, which comes after a rebidding and six months in delays, was given to Newburg/Walker/Rogers, a Chicago-based joint venture. The contract was the largest single contract ever awarded by the 50-year-old commission.

Michael Kennedy, a spokesman for the turnpike commission, said the board will set up a groundbreaking ceremony for sometime in late January.

"I think we're just pleased to have it under contract because we know how critical it is to the northeastern part of the state," Kennedy said.

The project, which was expected to cost $40 million, will add a second tunnel to the existing Lehigh Tunnel on the Northeast Extension of the turnpike in Lehigh and Carbon counties.

The principal work under the contract consists of adding a two-lane, 4,380-foot tunnel just west of the existing tunnel. Also included in the contract is the construction of approach roadways, grading, drainage, pavement and lighting.

Although Kennedy said that some of the work will begin in January, he expects most of the construction to get under way in the spring. The completion date will be 1991.

The Lehigh Tunnel is the only location along the turnpike where traffic narrows from four lanes to two. The tunnel has caused giant traffic jams during weekends and summer months, when tourists and second-home owners are headed to the tunnel. The tunnel opened to traffic in 1957.

The expansion project was approved by the Legislature in 1985 when the turnpike commission was restructured. The construction proposals are based on the new Austrian tunneling method of boring and reinforcing tunnels.

Under the plan, conventional drill and blast procedures are used for excavation, but instead of rigid steel frame support, a special concrete mixture is sprayed onto the exposed earth. The tunnel will also have a waterproof membrane seal to keep the inside of the tunnel dry.

In early July, the commission threw out the initial ten bids it received on the project after errors in calculations were found in the low bid. Turnpike engineers then questioned the feasibility of another bid and a third contractor indicated that he made mistakes on the bid.

The commission decided rather than eliminating three of the ten bidders, to rebid the whole project. The second-lowest bidder in both bids was J.F. Shea Construction in Bethesda, Md. Yesterday's news was not welcomed by Shea, which bid $38.2 million this time, but said it should have received the contract the first time around when the low bidder was thrown out.

"It doesn't leave a good taste in your mouth," said Buck Atherton, vice president of J.F. Shea. "As far as I'm concerned, they should have awarded us the bid the first time around."

Portal structures, mechanical and electrical work will be bid under separate contracts in 1989 and will have the same completion date as the new tunnel. When the tunnel is complete, another contract will be bid for repairs and rehabilitation of the existing tunnel.

Turnpike officials say they do not expect the tunnel construction to cause extensive delays. Officials said neither lane of the existing tunnel would be closed during the construction, although lanes leading into the tunnel could be closed during initial project work.